Zachary Levi has addressed criticisms concerning his Shazam! costume. Next on Warner Bros. and DC Films' docket after James Wan's Aquaman, the movie is being directed by Annabelle: Creation helmer David F. Sandberg and stars Levi as the titular character, Asher Angel as his young boy alter-ego, Billy Batson, and Mark Strong as the main villain, Doctor Silvana. After going through some changes during its development (it once included Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam), Shazam! finally entered principal production in February and since then, has been nicely progressing.
Plot details about the movie are still scarce at the moment, but folks involved promise Shazam! will be a family-friendly, lighter-toned flick than past DC films - but without the quippy one-liners associated with Marvel Studios movies. As proof of that, Levi's costume - which he's been spotted wearing on the film's set - is much brighter and campier than that for his fellow DCEU superheroes. However, while some fans have welcomed the design of the costume, others have been vocal about their disappointment with the suit, prompting Levi to address the matter directly.
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Taking it to his verified Instagram account to host a Live event, Levi addressed criticisms of his Shazam! costume after one fan straightforwardly asked "WHY THE CRAP SUIT?." Clearly baffled at first, he then explained that with Captain Marvel's long history in the pages of the comics, there are various designs of the superhero's costume, and the one they decided to use is pretty cool, in his opinion. The actor further admits that while some may genuinely dislike the look of the suit, he advises people to be more understanding considering that other fans may actually like it. You can watch that segment from his Instagram Q&A (via Twitter user karla) below:
To be fair, no official images have been released, which means that people's impression of the costume is purely based on leaked photos from the Shazam! set. (Levi says there are HQ ones, but nothing will compare to proper PR shots). Final judgment should be reserved at least until we get an official look at the actor in his superhero outfit, and perhaps even after we've seen it in action in a teaser trailer. Having said that, it's also curious that Warner Bros. has yet to release an official costume photo. Sandberg himself previously indicated that an official Shazam! suit reveal is "right around the corner" and many have been waiting for just that to happen. Even more Shazam! set photos and videos have leaked since then, but an official costume photo is still nowhere in sight.
There's admittedly not a huge rush to release an official photo, what with Shazam!'s theatrical release still a year away. At the same time, the grainy set-photos out there have inspired negative opinions even before people get a proper full look at Levi's costume, and that's a bad way to start PR for the movie. Levi, Sandberg, and the rest of the cast have been doing a good job of keeping an air of positivity surrounding the project by constantly interacting with the fans, and the movie's production has been going pretty well thus far. It would thus be a shame if the project got a bad rap just because of leaked set photos.
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Source: Zachary Levi (via karla)
